Legislation Works to Clarify Elements of California Bridge to Reform Demonstration Project, Offers Californians Quality Health Care Opportunities

SACRAMENTO – Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez’s (D-Los Angeles) AB 1066 has been signed into law by the Governor. The bill defines how public hospitals will receive billions of dollars through the California Bridge to Reform Demonstration Project, in which California receives $10 billion in federal funds to provide health care services during the transition to full federal health care reform.

Applauding Governor Brown for signing the bill, Pérez stated, “AB 1066 works to promote a demonstration project that is key to Californians receiving care as federal health care reform moves forward. This legislation allows our state to tap into billions of federal dollars—allowing our counties and hospitals to provide the care Californians need before federal health care reform takes hold.”

The federal demonstration project provides critical stabilization funding to public safety net providers as they shift their delivery systems to meet the requirements of federal health care reform.

AB 1066 ensures that the demonstration project, which will operate under a federal Medicaid waiver, conforms to the federal requirement—guaranteeing both timely and accurate receipt of federal dollars and proper funding allocations among each of the specific participating public hospitals.

The legislation allows full implementation of two previous bills, AB 342 and SB 208, legislation authored by Speaker Pérez and Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) last year that established the Bridge to Reform Demonstration Project in an effort to maintain health care services while full federal health care reform is put in place.

CONTACT: John Vigna (916) 319-2408

Website of Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez: www.asmdc.org/speaker